Dragonstar-class Battlecarrier
The Dragonstar-class battlecarrier is a Grand Revolutionary Alliance (GRA) battlecarrier in service with the GRA Interstellar Navy between 2168 to 2282. Only 4 ships were ever built due to high costs. Development Purposed around 2159, project "Dragonstar" was a project to create a class of eight starships that would form the center and home base of eight separate fleets. However, due to a massive spike in cost during wartime, as well as the long times for retrofitting, led the class to only having four ships being completed, with the last one only being made after the war was over. Even then, they still formed the center for three different fleets during the war. While initial development was slow due to a lack of military star ship engineers in the GRA, an influx of them found their way to the side of the GRA after the Great Whistleblow, where numerous United Space Federation (USF) engineers defected over to the GRA. Seeing the opportunity to jump start the design and development of the Dragonstar-class battlecarrier, the GRA recruited the defected USF engineers to help develop the Dragonstar. Two of the defectors, Kelly L. King and Polina R. Pavlov had knowledge of another starship program the USF had been planning called "Leviathan", using the knowledge of Leviathan ''the GRA implemented many design features into this the ''Dragonstar. This allowed the Dragonstar to incorporate technologies not usually found on other starships. Design The Dragonstar-class of battlecarriers are essentially heavily modified Settlement-class colony ship. This refit allowed for the carrying of 5 Hyperion class anti ship cannons and the infrastructure for smaller anti-ship weapons and numerous point defense weapons. In addition to the new guns, a variety of missile tubes of varying types were installed onto the newly refit Dragonstar-class battlecarriers. In addition to the new weapons, the massive 1km long cargo bay of the Settlement-class colony ship has been transformed into a carrier launch deck, a vertical aircraft hangar, and a vehicle bay. This allows the Dragonstar to assist in planetary assault and capture operations, as well as form the backbone for large scale planetary operations, despite the lack of in atmosphere capabilities. Due to the sheer number of weapons and new systems on the refitted S''ettlement class slips'', the standard two deuratrium power cores were replaced with four new high-efficiency interlude deuratrium power cores, along with a single backup in case the other power cores fail. With the new power cores, it has more than enough power output to power all the systems on the ship, as well as even give it's allies energy to power their ship, essentially making it an armed supercharger ship. However, due to the high number of power cores on the ship, it is prone to over charging itself, even with the interlude technology, therefore, it must constantly vent heat or deposit and waste energy. In addition to this issue, it relies heavily on it's power cores, so much so that it only has four electrical power plants to power it's subsystems instead of the usual 6 on ships of similar size. Aside from new weapons, newer modern military specific electronics and subsystems added and replaced older subsystems including fire suppression systems and sensors across the ship. Better armour was added to the already heavily armored Settlement-class colony ship. '' These additions and changes allowed the ship to become a top of the line, state of the art military vessel that could oppose any USF ship of it's time. Specifications General Characteristics The ''Dragonstar-class battlecarrier is approximately 3,240 m (7677 ft) long overall. At it's widest points, it has a beam of 1,310 m (4297 ft) wide. At it's lowest point to it's highest point, the Dragonstar-class battle carrier stand at over 1,020 m (3346 ft) tall. It weighs a total of 83,000,000 metric tons with over 256 different decks. It is crewed by over 8,500 naval personnel, 275 EVA engineers, 700 pilots, provisions for 3 military regiments with space for 500 Civilians/Evacuees and hundreds of AI aboard ranging from class 3 to class 8 AI with numerous mechanical shells for them. This makes it the largest ship within the GRA Interstellar Navy during the war of 2167, only being out sized by a select few other ships, not including space station. The heavy armament of the Dragonstar-class battlecarrier designated it from an assault carrier to a battlecarrier, a classification only a few ships had during the time of the war of 2167, and even after. Despite it's large size, the Dragonstar-class battlecarriers are remarkably maneuverable, able to quickly change directions and turn on an axis. Armour and Shielding The ship is protected all over by a combination of ablative plating, hydinium-ceramatite alloy, crystalline shock gel, and deforming ceramatite with certain sections having electro-reactive armour, specifically the front armoured section and the rear section over the Epsilon Zone (EZ) engine sphere. As for shielding, the Dragonstar-class battlecruiser has three layers of shields, each with a different detection range and different shield generator. Each shield can be directed in a certain direction of the ship but is still able to be bypassed by slow moving targets, an exploit often used by starcrafts and missiles who purposley slow down and bypass the shield detection layer before speeding up again. Propulsion Sub-Light Travel The first two ships of the series were propelled by a combination of ion and plasma engines. 4 XL ion engines clusters being the main engines and multiple plasma engines being used to preform quick maneuvers such as strafing and combat turning. The third ship was given more plasma engines with better efficiency ion engines, with the fourth ship taking it further with additional front plasma engines for quick lateral movement. All ships had RCS that allowed the ship to maneuver gently and course correct when traveling at subliminal speeds. FTL Travel The FTL method of transport is the standard large ship Epsilon Zone (EZ) drive set, including an EZ navigator, EZ engine sphere and an EZ opener. The ship could travel at a maximum speed of 23 kilometers per hour in the Epsilon zone for a continuous time of 12 hours, before needing to recharge for another 2 hours. This means the ship could travel at a very good speed of 276 light years per day, or 1,932 light years per week. Armament Main armament The primary armament of the Dragonstar-class battlecarrier is it's five spinal mounted Hyperion-type anti ship cannons arranged in a pentagon pattern. These cannons run along the length of the front half of the ship and can gimbal 3 degrees in all directions. Due to the ship having four deuratrium power cores, the ship can fire it's main armament much faster than most ships would be able to, despite the high energy usage of the Hyperion cannons. In addition to the five main Hyperion-type anti ship cannons, it also has two Hyper-type anti ship cannons, one mounted on each engine. Although these are rarely used due to the it's rather odd placement, it does allow the ship to engage lower threat hostiles with it's gimbal range being 5 degrees. Secondary armament The secondary armament of the Dragonstar-class battlecarrier are numerous, but it mainly relies on its over 38 Magnus-type anti ship cannons scattered across the hull, covering the ship in full 360 degree protection. Although usually mounted on smaller vessels like corvettes and frigates as it's main armament, the Dragonstar-class battlecarriers can handle the energy drain'' due to the excess energy produced by it's four deuratrium power cores. This allows the ship to utilize such weapons, instead of more conventional weapons such as normal kinetic cannons like coilguns, and torpedo launchers. This is not to say that it lacks kinetic weapons and torpedo launchers. The ''Dragonstar-class battlecarrier ''include over 68 500mm C/48 coilguns, protecting the ship from threats the Magnus cannons could not target fast enough such as corvettes, large starcrafts and torpedos. In addition to the coilguns, the ship carries 450 RRV-comet plasma torpedo pods, each pod carrying 4 torpedoes, resulting in over 1800 total torpedoes. Missiles The Dragonstar-class battlecruiser has a a monumental array of missiles, many of which are in detachable/autonomous missile modules that can seperate from the ''Dragonstar-class battlecarrier ''and assist other ships and itself in creating a defensive wall. These missiles include: * 675 Shiv XII anti aircraft missiles * 325 Short-Sword IX multi purpose cluster missiles * 180 Broadsword VII anti ship missiles The Shiv XII missiles allow for great flexibility along with the point defense guns in defending the ship from starcrafts such as fighter, bombers, gunships and dropships. In addition to acting as counter missiles to target incoming enemy missiles. The Short-Sword IX missiles allow the ''Dragonstar-class battlecruiser ''to strike multiple targets with a single missile such as torpedoes, and larger starcrafts. The Boardsword VII missiles provide the last layer of defense against small starships such as corvettes, frigates, and light destroyers. When deployed in a missile module, they are extremely effective at forming an area of denial against sneaking starships. Point defense armament In conjunction with it's Shiv XII missiles, there is an array of Point defense guns and CIWS to protect the ship from incoming hostiles. These include: * 710 D-15 anti air coilguns * 450 Hornets-nest laser turrets * 50 EKRAN CIWS When used in conjunction with it's missiles, the ''Dragonstar-class battlecarrier becomes a formidable foe that even the most coordinated fighter groups would struggle against. Electronics The ''Dragonstar-class battlecarrier ''is equipped with more sensors and electronics than most ship in the GRA interstellar navy. Many of the sensors are dedicated to tracking and searching nearby space for any infrared signatures, radio waves, or visible light emitted from enemy spacecrafts, as well as new (as of 2167) Epsilon Zone Rupture trackers to track and detect with amazing accuracy recent Epsilon Zone openings and travels, as well as potentially incoming ruptures or new signals. Included is a variety of broadband secure radio networks and a contingent of server drones to send messages to allies who are out of practical range of radio transmissions. Aircraft and Vehicles The Dragonstar-class battlecarrier can carry a full compliment of starcrafts. It has space under the front portion of it to hold 2 frigates, a space at the rear to hold another frigate, and space on the underside of it's maneuvering engine to carry a corvette sized ship on each side. Below is a list of the aircraft it typically carries. * ~260 fighters * ~180 bombers * ~105 gunships * ~125 transports * ~50 heavy transports * ~65 engineering vessels * ~610 20-person life pods Below is a list of vehicles it typically carriers for ground invasion and assistance of ground forces. * ~125 MBTs * ~90 artillery vehicles * 15 mobile prefabricated modulus bases * ~230 recon vehicles * ~140 APC/IFV * ~150 utility vehicles * provisions for storing 150 more ground vehicles. Ships of the line